Erisa Valiant Lestrange Weasley
by MissErimei
Summary: In an alternate reality based on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Fred Weasley survives though his relationship with his twin brother and the rest of the family has been greatly altered. Years after the Battle at Hogwarts, Ginny is brutally murdered leaving Harry to raise their three children as a single father. And then enters the battered child that Fred's just adopted...
1. Introduction to the story and the writer

Erisa Valiant Lestrange

This story is set in an alternate reality of Harry Potter and was inspired by Harry Potter and The Cursed Child. Despite it's inspiration, however, let me be very clear on the fact that Voldemort does not have a child in this story. In this reality Voldemort was absolutely incapable of having children. Therefore, the main character, Erisa, is the daughter of Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange.

In this reality Fred does not die in the Battle of Hogwarts. Throughout the entire series his death was always what upset me the most, and I just can't accept it in any of my fanfictions. However, I do have Fred and George being extremely distant from each other. This is in part due to George's marriage and family life-style, but it also suggests a death-like separation. Perhaps the horrors of the battle traumatized the two of them? Or perhaps Fred attained a curse that's ruined his relationship with George. Either way you'll have to forgive me for how terrible my writing is.

The sole purpose for my publishing this story is to inspire me to write more. My goal is to become a published writer sometime in the near future, and in order to meet that goal I absolutely have to force myself into writing more consistently. Therefore I've made a personal goal to write three thousand words a day, no matter what the subject matter is. Since I've recently finished reading Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, Harry Potter is the only thing on my mind that I can think about writing. So I decided to start a fanfiction and I feel like publishing it would help encourage me to continue writing in it. I apologize in advance should I lose interest and suddenly stop posting new chapters. I will honestly try my hardest to prevent that from happening, but I can't promise anything.

Despite my desire to become a writer, I'm really not that good. I'm easily influenced by whatever I've recently read which is why the majority of the story reads a bit like a play right now, and this introduction reads differently (I've been reading a novel that was written in the early twentieth century all morning.) Through this writing experience I hope to make my writing style far more consistent. All constructive criticism will be welcomed, but I do hope that you will go easy on me to spare my sensitive feelings. I haven't actually read the Harry Potter series in quite some time so I'll be extremely distant from the majority of the characters. Fred and George in particular, for the sad reason that I do not write humor very well. So please be honest about your opinions and help me out as much as you can!

The second main difference in this reality is that Bellatrix Lestrange survives the Battle of Hogwarts as well. And this is where the story basically starts:

Both Bellatrix and Rodolphus Lestrange escape the Battle of Hogwarts after Lord Voldemort is killed and they are hunted down by aurors like Harry Potter for nearly a decade. A few months after their youngest child, Lily, is born Rodolphus is hunted down and killed in a battle to take him into custody. Bellatrix takes her revenge by invading Harry and Ginny's home in the plans to kill his family. Having been tipped off, Harry and other aurors such as Ron (who is an auror in this reality) arrive in time to save Harry's three children, but Ginny has already been killed. Bellatrix herself dies in Azkaban a few years later having been weakened in health at some point in time during her life, (possibly by Harry if you think he'd do anything drastic to her after seeing his wife dead).

I've been trying to do research on the next generation but I haven't been able to find a lot of information that I can work with. Therefore the ages of most of the children will be altered and I will try my hardest not to get confused with any of them throughout the story.

Harry and Ginny's Children:

James Sirius- Born in 2004- Placed in Gryffindor

Albus Severus- Born in 2006- Placed in Slytherin

Lily Ginevra- Born in 2008- Placed in Gryffindor

Ginny dies in 2008 as well.

George and Angelina's Children:

(Firstly let me forewarn you that Angelina's name will oftentimes be shortened to Angela because her name just sounds awkwardly long to me. Forgive me for this personal preference please! Secondly, I justify the changed ages of their children with Fred's survival. Because of Fred's survival it takes George longer to settle down and marry Angelina, but mostly I just wanted their children to be closer in age to Harry's children.)

Frederick (I imagine Fred's name to be a shortened version of Frederick, and since Fred is alive in this version his nephew's name will be shortened to Ricky to prevent confusion, even though Ricky isn't my absolute favorite name ever, I associate it with a mischief maker so I feel like it's perfect for this character)- Born in 2004- Placed in Gryffindor

Roxanne- Born in 2005- Placed in Gryffindor

Luna Lovegood's Children: (Because I think they'd be awesome additions to this fanfiction)

Lysander Scamander- Born in 2007- Placed in Ravenclaw

Lorcan Scamander- Born in 2007- Placed in Hufflepuff

Bill and Fleur's Children:

Victorie- Born in 1999- Placed in Gryffindor

Dominique- Born in 2001- Attending Beuxbaton's Academy

Louis- Born in 2005- Placed in (I'm considering Hufflepuff here)

Percy and Audrey's Children:

Molly II- Born in 2003- Placed in Gryffindor

Lucy- Born in 2007- Placed in Gryffindor

(These houses are open for debate, if anyone has any ideas that they should be in Hufflepuff of Ravenclaw, given that I have absolutely no idea what house their mother was in, please let me know!)

Charlie's daughter: (In this version, because I wanted all the siblings to have children except for Fred, Charlie falls in love with a dragon enthusiast he worked with for a couple of months in order for her to educate herself enough to write a book on dragons. Less then a month after she finishes her work he gets in touch with her to confess his feelings and they get married in 2009, after Charlie finishes mourning his sister's death.)

Charlotte (Name totally up to debate here)- Born in 2010- Placed in (leaning again on Gryffindor here, though possible Ravenclaw. Tell me your opinions!)

Lupin and Tonks' Child:

Teddy Lupin- Born in 1998- Placed in Hufflepuff

Neville and Hannah's Children: (Because I think it would be absolutely perfect for Neville to have a child! Neville is my number one favorite character in the Harry Potter books, and I think it would be just perfect for him to have a son that's a bit spiteful against him like Albus is of Harry.)

Frank II- Born in 2005- Placed in (I'm thinking Hufflepuff here)

Alice II- Born in 2009- Placed in (I'm thinking Gryffindor here)

Draco and Astoria's son:

Scorpios- Born in 2006- Placed in Slytherin

Bellatrix and Rodolphus' Daughter:

Erisa Valiant- Born in 2006- Placed in Slytherin

And that concludes the summary of this story!


	2. Ginny's Death Part I

Ginny's Death, November of 2008

After the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry had originally made 12 Grimmauld Place his home. He liked how close it made him feel to Sirius, his deceased godfather. However, even before marriage Ginny had made it clear that she disliked the very thought of raising their children in a house with a portrait of a crazy woman constantly screaming her dislike of them all permanently stuck to the wall. Less than a month after their wedding, due to the malfunctioning of an equally permanent security measure put in place by the late Alastor Moody, Ginny finally won the argument and the two moved into a lovely three story house just a few blocks away from Harry's parents' house in Godric's Hollow. Upon becoming an auror, several options where presented to the Potter family in order to make this house more secure. Of course, just by being associated with Harry Potter the house was already outfitted with some level of protection. The current Minister for Magic urged the couple to request the Fidelius Charm just as Harry's parents had in order to keep them protected from the escaped Death-Eaters. Scoffing at the idea, Ginny reminded the Minister of how many children in the family they'd have visiting each week. It wouldn't be very hard at all for a Death-Eater to get one to slip up about the location. One of the measures that they did decide on, however, was a spell that restricted the people that could apparate in and out of the house's direct property. Only family members directly related to Ginny would have instant access to the house. Their floo network was also highly restricted; it's only access points being in Harry's office and Molly's fireplace at the borrow. The couple felt assuredly safe in their home indeed: but as the old saying goes, Hell hath no furry like a woman scorned.

It had happened as an accident, or at least that's what the newspapers reported, though even Harry doubted their truthfulness. Aurors where viciously hunting down the remaining Death-eaters in an effort to rid the world from all reminders of Voldemort's near victory. Rodolphus Lestrange had been cornered in a London alley-way and a five way fight had broken out against the three auror team. Rodolphus and his unnamed partner where both killed in the incurring explosion while only a single auror suffered any serious damage. Upon hearing of her husband's death, Bellatrix lost all reason she had left for living. She finally abandoned her attempts at finding a new way to bring Voldemort back and threw her life away in a suicide mission to get revenge.

Three months after their youngest child Lily is born, and less than three weeks after Rodolphus' death, Harry receives a letter written by the aged Mrs Figg who'd moved to Godric's Hollow to continue to be Harry's neighbor (she'd found herself rather lonely since Harry never returned to Privet Drive again). The letter warned that a mysterious woman with crazy black hair that Mrs Figg couldn't identify had just entered his house. Calling to his current partner to alert the Ministry of a possible attack by Bellatrix Lestrange on his family, Harry apparates to the street right in front of his house to witness the sinister flashing of green light flooding out from his windows. His stomach dropping to the pits of his stomach, he fights the urge to haunch over and throw up as he races inside his house. Wand out, completely deaf with shock (instead of hearing Ginny's scream he hears his mother's scream echoing relentlessly in his ears, or perhaps Ginny's scream just sounded identical to it), he rushes into the living room and disarms the startled Bellatrix. Ron, appearing on the other end of the room, shoots a spell at the dark witch to bind and gag her. His eyes move to his dead sister lying on the ground and his wand drops to the floor as he lets out a cry of sorrow. Bellatrix can be seen smiling in the background, falling to the floor as she loses balance, and laughing to herself at the scene.

Still holding his wand, Harry falls to the ground to try and shake his wife back to life. Other aurors already entering the house to detain Bellatrix, Harry remains deaf to their attempts to calm him. He's cradling Ginny's head in his lap and crying out helplessly. Ron is kneeling on the ground staring in shock, crying and leaning over Ginny's legs as he's beating the ground in rage with reality. Neither man notice the four year old James standing in the living room next to them, shocked into silence with a teddy bear he'd stolen from Albus dwindling forgotten in his hand. Albus is upstairs with Lily in the baby's nursery room while Lily is crying loudly from her cradle. The two year old boy is trying to reach his sister in order to calm her down while a few silent tears fall from his unknowing eyes. The Ministry aurors pick up James and remove him from the scene, collecting the other two children from upstairs as they scatter to send word to the rest of the family.

(Around the same time)

Molly had just come down stairs to start a pot of tea before bed when she absent mindlessly looks over to check the family clock. A second later, as her mind processes that one of the hands isn't where it's supposed to be, the elderly woman rushes towards it to get a better look. "Oh no, i, it's broken! i, it's broken!" The woman starts sputtering, taking the clock off the wall and opening the case to try and move Ginny's hand off of the deceased mark. Getting increasingly hysterical as the hand refuses to budge, Arthur comes down to check on her. "Molly, what's wrong?" He suddenly stops talking when he gets close enough to see the clock over his wife's shoulder. Reality sinking in, he puts his hands on Molly's shoulder to try and calm her down. "Molly, Molly come to the kitchen with me." He tries to pull her off of the clock which she is now beating over the rocking chair.

"No, no it's broken! It, it says that Ginny's dead, it's broken I say It's Broken!" The woman starts screaming as Arthur finally pulls her away, the clock falling to the ground in front of her. Two Ministry officials appear in their fireplace with a letter in their hand announcing the bad news. The man holding the letter drops it and the two rush to separate the couple – Molly's turned herself around and has started beating Arthur away from her. "No! Get off me, she's not dead it's just broken! Get off of me! She's not dead! She's Not Dead!" Her voice rises in volume with each word. Unable to help, the men finally spell both Molly and Arthur to sleep and they wake up in the same room but in separate beds at St. Mungo's the next day, surrounded by most of their sons.

Twenty minutes after seeing Ginny's dead body, Ron finally recovers from shock and becomes aware of his surroundings again. Several men from the Ministry are fighting against Harry to remove the body, Bellatrix has already been removed from the house (though Harry still had his wand in his hand so if you think he would have done something to her like, I don't know, torturing her like he tried to do when Sirius died, it's still a definite possibility). Ron stands up and backs away from the scene, noticing him one of the men separates from the group and ushers him out of the house. Once outside Ron hears the man talking to him.

"Mr Weasley, sir... Mr Weasley!" It takes a bit to get his attention but he finally looks towards the man speaking. "Mr Weasley, we don't know where to bring Mr Potter's children since he has no family himself. We were going to take them to your mother's house, but she was in hysterics when she learned the news and has been taken to St. Mungo's."

"St Mungo's, mom has been... Oh, yes um, is Hermione awake? No, no she should be here for, for Harry and such, um." Thinking through his family images of everyone going into hysterics floods through his mind. He closes his eyes and shakes his head to regain clarity. "B, Bill can do it. Bill and Fleur, they'll be able to watch them." He places a hand on the man's shoulder to catch himself before he faints on the ground, the world suddenly spinning around him.

"Ron? Oh my gosh Ron, what's happened? What's going on?" The sound of Hermione's voice rings through his ears and he blinks up to see his wife rushing through the yard towards him. She collides into his side to support his still limp body and starts interrogating the man previously holding him up. "What's going on? I was in the middle of a pile of Ministry files and I suddenly got a notification that I'm needed here, there's been an attack? What's happened, is everyone okay?"

Before the man can speak Ron starts muttering something. "No, no Ginny's she's, no she's." Growing heavier on Hermione's shoulder she starts to strain under his weight.

The Ministry man puts his shoulder around Ron's back and lifts him back off of Hermione. Seeing the struggle, a couple of men come over to take Ron to St. Mungo's. While this is happening Hermione is looking around in confusion as to why this all is happening. "Mrs Weasley," The man starts.

"Granger-Weasley," She corrects habitually, instantly regretting that she interrupted him.

"Mrs Granger-Weasley, I'm afraid that your sister-in-law, Ginny Weasley, has been murdered."

"What!" Hermione's eyes threaten to pop from her scull. "How, what?" She repeats, threatening to go into hysterics herself.

"A death-eater named Bellatrix Lestrange..." The moment she hears these words Hermione breaks into a run.

Partially colliding into the door frame, Hermione rushes into the living room where the struggle for Ginny's body is taking place. Harry is reflecting spells to try and stun him as he sends spells back frantically as if still under attack from a death-eater. Falling behind him Hermione announces herself. "Harry, Harry it's me. Harry's it's going to be okay, it's, it's going to be okay somehow, I promise." She wraps her arms around him and pulls him from around Ginny's body, grabbing his wand as he swings it up to cast another spell and ripping it out of his fingers, tossing it away to be collected by the Ministry men. Harry falls back into her embrace and starts trying to explain what's happening, gasping for breaths in between syllables. "I know, Harry, I know it's..." Hermione breaks off and starts crying herself as she hugs him. The men are finally able to remove Ginny's body and then, partially frightened to hurt the famous Harry Potter and partially frightened of being hurt by Harry potter, they vacate the house to let Hermione calm him down. They stay stationed outside of the house until Hermione exits it several hours later, Harry finally having passed out in the living room. Taking no chances the men ready their wands before reentering the house to transport the widowed man to a room at St. Mungo's next to the one currently occupied by his parents-in-law.

(Firstly, sorry I suck at writing so much. Today has been one of those days where I'm just forcing myself to write. I've written a bit in this story already, but what I've written comes after Ginny's death so I thought I should go back and write about her death in detail. I'm also having one of those days where I really can't see the black on write words I'm writing on the computer screen so rereading this travesty is becoming increasingly difficult to do. Secondly, I feel like I may have overdid some of their reactions. But I actually enjoy writing travesty so I really get into scenes like this, and Molly has just lost her only daughter so I feel like her reaction is quite believable. Harry I can just see being completely overwhelmed by the tragedy that keeps occurring in his life. I'll try to go through this and rewrite it on another day.)


	3. Ginny's Death Part II

Ginny's Death: The Initial Aftermath

Bill and Fleur are woken up late in the night by the sound of urgent knocking on their front door. The two rush downstairs to see what's going on, Fleur slightly behind Bill, both with their wands gripped in their hands. Once Bill recognizes the men from the Ministry he slips his wand into his sleeve, wearing only a nightgown Fleur keeps her's in her hand as she backs up to let the men in. Once the first man enters the door they can see James and Albus standing among the crowd of people. The last man to enter the house is holding the still crying Lily and Fleur takes the baby from his hands to try and calm her down. She disappears into the kitchen to focus on the noisy baby just as Bill is receiving the news about his sister.

"I'm sorry sir." Is the last thing Bill hears as he falls into the dining chair that he quickly pulls underneath him. Victorie and Dominique catch his attention a few moments later as they peak around the corner to see what's going on. Albus is now being held by one of the men as he drifts in and out of sleep and James in sitting curled up in the corner of the room. The entire house is unnaturally silent until Bill finally gets up and takes in his surroundings. "Girls, run upstairs and get the guest beds set up. Victorie, take James with you if you can." He adds just as the girls start to run upstairs. Victorie nods to her father and slips behind the Ministry men to offer James her hand. She leads him upstairs behind her younger sister. Bill picks up Albus just as Fleur reenters the world with a finally silent Lily in her arms.

"Bill?" She asks in a still thick french accent. "What is going on here? Why have they brought us Harry and Ginny's children?" Her eyes flicker back and forth between her husband and the Ministry men.

"Fleur dear, let's go upstairs and get these two settled." The Ministry men take their leave as Bill walks around the table to his wife. "Their mother's been murdered tonight." He whispers in Fleur's ear once he gets close enough to her, tears beginning to stream down his face.

Fleur startles at this news and starts speaking quickly in French causing Lily to wake up and start crying again. She diverts her attention back to calming the baby and the two slowly make their way up to the guest bedroom (Which I'm imagining on the top floor, sort of like an attic). Victorie and Dominique are quickly making the second guest bed, James already tucked into the first. Once she sees the door open Victorie opens the closet and starts pushing her old cradle into the middle of the room. Fleur takes her wand and moves it the rest of the way, magicking the dust off of it before she sets the little girl down and puts a bib into her mouth to keep her quiet. Bill sets Albus down into the second guest bed and Dominique sits next to the sleeping boy, softly brushing the hair out of his eyes when he starts to stir in his sleep as her father piles the blankets around his body to prevent him from falling. Her eyes look silently up at her father looking for answers.

"Dominique, would you like to sleep in here with your nephews tonight?" Bill asks in a whisper. The girl nods and curls up easily beside Albus. "Alright sweety, make sure that you don't wake them in the morning, alright? They're going to need as much rest as possible." The seven year old girl continues to nod her understanding as her parents leave the room, Victorie slipping behind them to her own room just a floor below her parents'.

"Bill," Fleur starts, asking "Are you alright?" in French as she places a hand on his shoulder.

Bill looks back at his wife and puts a hand on hers, "I will be." He struggles to offer her a smile but then starts to break down. Fleur guides him into their bedroom to avoid waking the kids up and Victorie listens through the walls to her father crying into her mother's arms.

After a couple of minutes pass Dominique slips into Victorie's room. Victorie sits up in her bed and Dominique sits next to her. "What do you think happened tonight?" Dominique whispers as her sister starts brushing her hands through her strawberry blond hair.

"Something bad." Victorie whispers back. "How's James doing? Is he still pretending to be asleep?"

Dominique nods sadly. "I'm going to see if he wants to join us in here." She says as she slips off the bed.

"Don't ask him questions about tonight Nikki." Victorie whispers after her younger sister before she slips out the door.

(Slight intermission: Sorry I don't really remember how Bill and Fleur's house is set up, and architecture is a weak point in all of my writings. The spare bedroom in this story I have being primarily empty with two twin beds on either side and a large storage closet, I sort of have it looking a bit like an attic but I think their house was really tall anyways so it should work. Now I've been looking at a couple of videos of fan casting for all the kids and I don't really imagine them the same way as the videos I've found: If J.K. Rowling has anything official on their actual appearances that I've missed someone please let me know! Victorie looks basically like the spitting image of her mother– blond, blue eyed and very French. Sharp, striking features and a model's body. She's a bit intoxicating to look at because of her Veela blood. Dominique, nicknamed Nikki by her sister, has really light strawberry blond hair that's naturally ridiculously wavy compared to Victorie's primarily straight hair, and striking brown eyes. She resembles her aunt Ginny a bit more than her own mother, but she still has that veela beauty going for her.)

Dominique returns to the room with James in front of her. She helps him onto the bed before sitting next to him. "How are you doing?" She asks quietly, holding his hand.

He's staring down at the ground in front of him, when Dominique leans over to look into his eyes she ponders over how dead they appear to be.

"It's okay James, we're going to be here for you." Victorie adjusts her position and hugs the boy tightly, wrapping an arm around her sister as well to provide more support. The three stay like this well into the night, James desperately holding onto Victorie's arms and starting to silently cry in her embrace.

Meanwhile, Percy is working another late night in the Ministry in an effort to redeem his reputation. Rumors have been going around that the Minister for Magic is getting ready to retire in a few years and the ambitious boy still hasn't given up hope that he might some day rise all the way to the top. Of course, the chances of this actually happening, after having sided with the late Cornelius Fudge against the late Dumbledore and Harry Potter over the rise of Voldemort, were slim at best. Nonetheless, he grumbles to himself about all the distractions his secretary had caused him tonight when the fearful boy pokes his head into the office to deliver a letter. "Well, put it down now won't you. I can't open it while it's shaking in your hand now can I?" He snaps at the boy's timid nature, completely forgetting that he was once in the boy's same shoes. "Tch, such an irritating lad isn't he?" He grumbles after the door to his office is pulled shut and starts unfolding the piece of parchment. "Oh," He stares in shock at the news the letter offers him, his voice has lost all pompous airs and instead betrays a slight vulnerability within him. "Oh, oh no." He fights to keep his calm, his breath quickening with every passing moment. Getting up out of his seat he reaches for his quill when his hand collides with the bottle of ink. Before he can finish reading the letter it's soaked through from the black liquid. "Oh, damn it all!" He exclaims angrily. "Gildarts, Gildarts get in here!" He calls out his door and the twenty something year old secretary shakily reenters the room.

"Ye, Yes sir?"

"Send for my wife, tell her to come to my office immediately." Percy doesn't wait for the boy to finish stuttering his question before he starts speaking, pointing to his empty fireplace to suggest his wife come by floo powder.

"Right away sir." The boy rushes back out and nearly falls over his desk while scribbling out the note. Percy had ink stains covering his perfectly pressed suit which told the boy that something was terribly wrong for him to be ignoring his attire. Despite the ill-treatment he suddenly found himself worrying over his boss's well being and had the letter sent before a minute had passed.

Percy looks around his office in disgust over the state of things. Here his wife was on her way and the place was an absolute mess to his picky eyes. He pulled out his wand and whisked the ink back into the bottle, not noticing the spots disappear from his own suit, and started to pick up the letter to finish reading while he waited for his wife. Just as he made to sit down, however, Audrey appeared in his fireplace looking exceptionally poised despite her rush to get there.

"Audrey, dear." Percy lets the letter fall back down onto the desk as he stands up to greet her.

"Percy, what's wrong?" She's caught a little off-guard when he suddenly embraces her. Their act of perfect sophistication being dropped, she wraps her arms around him in return.

"It's, it's Harry and Ginny, they've, they've just been attacked." Percy starts mumbling as he struggles to regain his calm. "They, they've been attacked and Ginny, she's, she's..." Falling into the chair on the other side of his desk Percy puts a hand over his face to prevent his wife from seeing the tears that starts to well up in his eyes.

Audrey moves around him to pick up the dropped letter and folds it closed once she's done reading it. After a few moments pass, as she regains her own calmness, she puts a hand on his shoulder. "Dear, it said that your parents were taken to St. Mungo's for hysteria. I think you should go to them."

"Yes but, the girls, Lucy?" Percy looks up at her, suddenly thinking about all of his responsibilities as a father in an effort to divert his his mind from the tragic reality.

"Are with the sitter. I'll go back now to make sure everything is okay and we'll meet you at St. Mungo's." Seeing Percy nod his agreement she turns around to walk into the fireplace again when his hand is suddenly around her wrist, pulling her back.

She spins back around and looks at him in confusion when he speaks. "Audrey, I, I didn't cause this, right? I mean, nobody can let me forget the mistakes I made, siding with Fudge, and when the Lestrange's escaped from Azkaban we were so focused on pinning it on Sirius Black that, you don't think." He finally looks up to meet his wife's eyes. "You don't think that we could've caught them do you? If we had seen what was really going on back then?"

Taking a moment to connect the dots she gives him a small smile and squeezes his hand. "No dear, you couldn't have saved her." And turns around again to leave.

(Again I can't apologize enough for how bad I am probably getting these characters! But I'm starting to get excited about the next generation that's being developed. Anyways, Percy and Audrey's relationship is going to be a strange one: They're both going to be caught up in social appearances and propriety that it might appear at times that they don't actually care for each other, or at least that's how I'm going to try it make it seem like. In reality though they're really the perfect match for each other, and relating them a bit to the Malfoy family, when it comes down to it they'll truly do anything for one another.)


	4. The Start of Dominique's Story

Dominique and Beauxbatons Academy: September of 2012

(So it doesn't look like there is any official information about the inner workings of the Beauxbatons Academy, which is super sad, but I found a couple of role play sites that have great ideas for it's houses! I'm assuming that the french academy follows the same seven year schedule that Hogwarts does, with a few inside exceptions like when they take their versions of the OWLS (in the sixth year instead of the fifth), and their method of selecting students will be somewhat less magical than Hogwarts' book and quill. For their houses I'm going to use what I found on a role play site so absolutely all credit goes to them!

. Check out this awesome link to learn about the three houses of Beauxbatons, and here is their sorting method directly copied and pasted from that site:

"Beauxbatons has a unique sorting method. In order to be sorted, you must shoot a silver arrow across the room. After several seconds, the arrow will burst into sparks of your house color: Purple for Papillionlisse, Blue for OmbreLune and green for Bellefeuille. The arrow will choose a house based on your personality, character, and demeanor. Certain traits exemplify certain houses. You may possess all the traits or strongly possess only one of them. The house descriptions are outlines for your character, but not definite facts.")

Dominique knew practically from the day she was born that she was not destined for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Okay, so it may not have been since birth, but as she grew up hearing stories of her parents' Alma maters she couldn't help but feel drawn to the Beauxbatons academy. Her mother spoke so fondly of her time there as apart of the house of Papillionlisse that Dominique wanted to experience it for herself. Since the family as a whole was closer to their Weasley relations, it was assumed that all of Bill's children would attend Hogwarts: Which produced a complication to Dominique. She didn't want to disappoint her family, but the idea of having to attend a school she didn't want to go to made her angry. Luckily, through years of complaining about Hogwarts' name and bitterly stating her opinion of attending the school, her parents caught on and got in touch with Madame Maxime herself. Honored to be accepting back the daughter of their representative in the final Twiwizard Tournaments, the couple wanted to surprise their daughter by waiting till the last month before she was set to start school to give her the glad tidings. This made Dominique even more angry at them, however, confused as to why they would make her suffer the thought of going to an undesired school for so many years. Fleur, who was sorted into a house prided for it's kindness, was saddened to see her youngest daughter leave home with such a poor attitude.

In order to make the journey to Beauxbatons, Dominique traveled by port key for the first time in her life. Brushing off her parents' attempts to hug her goodbye, she ascends the steps of the Academy with her head held high, sure that she would enjoy every moment of her time there to make up for all the years she had spent miserable. Once inside, however, and faced with the task of shooting a bow and arrow, nerves finally set in and she swallows the urge to throw up. 'Why had she decided to go this school again?' the question explodes across her mind, 'Hogwarts has a hat that sorts you, no physical exertion required there. Why was I so obsessed with my emotions that I never even thought to practice this at home before I got here?' She closes her eyes to suppress the urge to hyperventilate and waits her turn, barely aware of her surroundings until she hears her name repeated twice. Embarrassing herself in front of the handful of kids still waiting their turn, and the few across the hall already sorted that are still watching the ceremony, the arrow slips out of her hand as she tries to get the bow in the correct position. Feeling fire spread across her cheeks she swallows again and bends down to pick the arrow up, excepting help from the deputy headmaster to get the bow positioned correctly this time.

Among the students laughing at her from across the room is an extremely handsome, high brow sort of boy named Ezekiel Morin who had been sorted into the house of OmbreLune before her. He was standing in a group of pure blood children and pointing her out in amusement, and among his friends is one Alexander Greenwood, who is the nephew of the Greenwoods that where fostering Elise.

Catching sight of the boy pointing at her, Dominique sets her mind to avoiding humiliation again. Forgetting her anger at her parents, and her excitement for getting to attend this school finally, she starts pulling the bow string back as she raises it high and released the arrow into the air. Forgetting the names of the houses as she watched it begin it's decent, she's not entirely sure which house it symbolizes when it com busts into purple sparks. Recognizing the name announced as the one her mother attended, Papillionlisse, she feels a sense of warmth and pride as she's ushered to the group of kids joining the house with her.

"Hi, I'm Amy." Whispers a mousy sort of girl as she joins the crowd. "Don't worry about before, you probably didn't see but I dropped the bow three times during my turn. It's a pretty common occurrence actually."

Not entirely comforted by the girl's words, she looks back at the boy who had pointed her out before to see him still laughing with all of his friends.

James and Dominique: December of 2015.

Dominique's personality calmed significantly after being sorted into Papillionlisse; however, ever since her arrival for Christmas vacation something has been especially off about her. In an attempt to respect the natural mood swings which comes from being her age, her mother is giving her distance while insisting to Bill that there is no need to get angry with her for a little bit of lip. Once Christmas dinner comes to a close, however, even Fleur reaches her last straw.

James came over to the now empty table where Dominique is sitting to offer her the last pint of butter beer he'd snuck away from George. "Hey Domino, want some..." His words are cut off when his cousin practically jumps out of her chair in a fit.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Domino?" She screams loud enough to get the entire house's attention, her chair flying out from underneath her and the glass of butter bear magically being knocked out of his hands and shattering on the wall behind him. James cringes in slight fear, and then pity when he catches sight of her mother storming out of the kitchen towards her. He slips out of the line of fire quickly and Dominique turns to meet her maker.

"I have had enough of you Dominique Evangeline Weasley!" Fleur yells in angry French. "You will go to your room with that fowl attitude and not affect the rest of us with it! I may just withhold all of your presents until the new year young lady, now get going!" (Not sure where her room will be, not quite sure yet who's house this event will take place in. But assume that she goes to Lily's room if she's in Harry's house, Rose's if they're in Hermione and Ron's house, and so forth.) Dominique hangs her head down low as she skirts around her mother and up the stairs Fleur is pointing angrily towards.

A couple of hours later the door opens slowly and James peaks his head in. Searching the room for a moment he catches sight of the girl curled up in a ball on the twin canopy bed. "Permission to come in?" He grins slyly at the question, but there's something in his eyes that's swimming with compassion for his older cousin.

"Permission granted." She mutters, not lifting her head.

James shuts the door behind him and walks over to sit next to her on the bed. "So that was quite a scene down there. I guess your mother always reverts back to French when she's emotional, most of us haven't the slightest what she actually said." James starts awkwardly.

"She told me to go to my room, you should've been able to ascertain that for yourselves." Dominique turns her head away from him in irritation.

"Ya, I guess you're right." He shrugs her words off with one shoulder, setting his hand invitingly down next to him. "Dominique, something happened at school, didn't it?" He's trying to catch a

glimpse of her turned face and then continues. "You know, if you want to, you can always talk to me." Finally the girl turns her head back to meet his sympathetic gaze.

She forces herself to unfold slightly, just enough to talk more audibly, and he can see her nod sadly. "Th, this boy at school that's in the same year as me, well, him and his friends just started picking on me, that's all." She moves her head suddenly in an effort to shake away the tears threatening to swell in her eyes. "Well, it's not like he's just started, I mean, him and his buddies have always sort of picked on those of us in the house of Papillionlisse. It's just that, for some weird reason this time was totally different than the others." Her body is slowly unfolding as she becomes more comfortable talking to James. " What happened was, I was showing Amy a picture of what my dad looked like when he was a young man. And, well I was showing her a picture of him and his family, you know the one where they're visiting Egypt?" James nods his head in remembrance, "We were sitting out in the courtyard at the time so this boy and his buddies come walking behind us and he catches a glimpse of the picture from over my shoulder. All of the sudden the photo disappears from my hands and he's showing all of his buddies, laughing at how they all have red hair. Well, I tried to laugh it off and stand my ground, but when I went to demand it back from them they started mocking the color of my hair. And Amy was no help whatsoever, she just went and hid behind a column as usual and watched the whole thing happen. So I started to demand for the picture back again and then he takes out his wand and jinxes me." At the memory of this all of the sudden her hands fly up over her face and James leans over in shock.

"How did they jinx you Dominique? Was it something really bad? Did they physically hurt you in any way?" The younger boy suddenly becomes increasingly defensive over his cousin, his voice rising with each question as he raises himself from the bed looking like he's ready to beat someone.

"They jinxed my hair purple! This awful, slick plum purple!" The girl screams through her hands causing James to sit back down and try to withhold a laugh. "And it took me all month to get out!" She takes her hands away from her face and catches the sight of him chuckling silently, holding his side trying to catch his breath, "James this is not funny! I'm serious here," She grabs his shoulders and shakes him a bit to show her intensity, "All I could think about was getting the color out so that mom and dad wouldn't find out, and then when I got home they actually didn't have a clue! And it just frustrated me so much that they had absolutely no inclination that there daughter had been spending every night crying for the last month trying to fix her hair and I've barely got any sleep and they're smiling and hugging me like nothing in the world has gone wrong and it's just so unfair! Aren't they supposed to be my parents? Shouldn't they know these kinds of things?" She starts to get hysterical and James has to push her hands away and grab her shoulders to calm her down.

"No, they're not Dominique. Parents like to talk about how they have this great sixth sense, and act like they've got the whole parenting routine down to perfection, but the truth is it's a codependent relationship. They're not going to know when you need them all the time, unless you tell them that you need them. I mean, take my dad for example. A year after," his voice cuts off slightly, "A year after mom died, after everything settled down and we started living full time with him again, he didn't have the slightest clue how to take care of us. I know that he likes to tell us horror stories about his own upbringing, but apparently his aunt and uncle never fed him lunch in the afternoon." Dominique makes a slight choking noise from shock at how random his last sentence was. "I'm serious!" James meets her gaze once again. "I mean, he got that Lily needed to be fed every four hours or so, but he'd completely forget about me and Albus once the afternoon came by. And after a week of trying to scavenge food for ourselves, and eating so many non-edible things from the garden that Albus ended up pukingly sick, I finally had to let him know that kids needed three meals a day, not two!" Both kids are cracking up laughing now and whether the story was true or made up Dominique will never know.

Dominique has a hand on James' shoulder to support herself from falling, and once she finally recovers from the laughing fit she raises her head to smile warmly up at him. "Thanks, I needed that. And I guess you're right, it's unfair for me to take their word for it when they say that they know everything." She rolls her eyes in support of the sarcasm in her voice. "I guess I should talk to them."

James nods his head at her, then gets up from the bed. "Do you want me to go get them for you? I know that Fleur was upset that you didn't get to open your presents with everyone else, I think she'd like to bring them up for you now that you've calmed down."

Dominique nods and then calls after him just before he leaves the room. "James, I'm sorry by the way, for spilling that butter beer you were offering me earlier."

James looks back at her and shrugs it off, "No problem, you'll pay me back later." Grinning mischievously he slips quickly from the room.

Bill and Fleur enter a few minutes later, Fleur levitating the pile of presents for Dominique behind her. They talk well into the night, stealing the room from whoever it really belongs too, and then her parents watch in joy as she opens every present individually. It's the picture perfect family bonding scene, including the tear-stained cheeks on the child, but after everything's all said and done I think this will be one of the last of Dominique's attitude problems.

(Okay, so this was random. I just all of the sudden had huge inspiration for Dominique's character and I'll try to write follow up chapters about her life at Beauxbatons throughout the rest of the fan fiction. I'm sorry that I'm posting this chapter so out of order with the story line, but I'm trying to post a chapter a day at least so I don't know if I'll be able to post the chapter I had planned to write today. Once the story is more developed I'll move this chapter to where it makes the most sense, but for now remember the mentioning of the Greenwood's family as it'll be important later. Thanks for reading!)


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